How Many More Tortured In Our Name? - pics

[Kadie]

Anti-Bush protester Anna White, from Washington lays a red rose and a banner outside the White House in Washington, October 17, 2006. U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday signed S. 3930, the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The legislation sets standards for interrogating suspects, but through a complex set of rules that human rights groups say could allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)



Anti-Bush protester Anna White, from Washington lays a red rose and a banner outside the White House in Washington, October 17, 2006. U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday signed S. 3930, the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The legislation sets standards for interrogating suspects, but through a complex set of rules that human rights groups say could allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)

[Solly Mack]

1. I wrote this a while back

United We Stained

By Solly Mack


“Not in our name!” we railed, against an illegal war.

“Not in our name!” we cried, against the senseless slaughter of men, women and children for a crime they didn’t commit.

“Not in our name!” we pleaded, against torture and abuse.

But in our name, George Bush, America’s representative to the world, brought death and destruction.


United we stained.

“Not in our name!” Even still – in our name, these things were done.


In our name, America tortures, maims and kills. In our name, America “renders” people to foreign lands so they can be water-boarded and beaten - in some cases to the death. In our name, America is a war crime nation. In our name, America has been stained, stained with the blood of victims; stained by the refusal of our government to end their policy of torture and their culture of violence.

United we stained.

“Not in our name!” Even still – in our name, these things were done.

In our name, the Bush Regime has made a mockery of everything America is supposed to stand for. In our name, the Bush Regime has brought great shame upon America and her citizens. In our name, the world no longer looks to America as a beacon of hope - they now look at us with disgust and even fear. It is said that the capacity for mercy is greatest in the greatest, but what about the capacity for cruelty? Is this what it means to be “the” Super-Power? That America can break the laws that govern humanity, that America can deny the truth of her heinous crimes and still call herself the “the greatest nation on earth?” Is that what America is to you? Does such criminal hypocrisy represent America to you?


United we stained.

“Not in our name!” Even still – in our name, these things were done.


The world doesn’t see individual Americans. The world doesn’t see the divided nation we know America to truly be. They see a nation who allowed a war criminal back into office. Let me repeat that, “They see a nation who allowed a war criminal back into office.”

United we stained.

“Not in our name!” Even still – in our name, these things were done.


The stain is there and it can’t be washed away. It’s America’s stain and it is our stain. Neither time nor history can ever rewrite the truth of America’s crimes.

But it’s not yet too late to do something about it.

In our name, impeach and remove from office the Bush Regime.
In our name, demand that the guilty, all the guilty, be tried for war crimes.
In our name, deny freedom to those that have denied the freedom of others - by sending the guilty to prison.

In our name – do the right thing.

For America’s sake – do the right thing.